Why Vietnam was the perfect location for Kong: Skull Island

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam provided the “perfect aesthetic” for the film
“Kong: Skull Island”, director Vogt-Roberts was quoted by Channel NewsAsia on
its website www.channelnewsasia.com.

For the director, filming in Vietnam stood out.

“I scoured the world. I very specifically didn’t want (the
film) to look like Jurassic Park ... I wanted it to look fresh,” he explained.
“I think audiences go to cinemas to see new things. So I went to a lot of
places in Asia. People have shot in Thailand before and it seemed like an easy
fit but I was like, ‘No!’ so we kept going around. And then I landed in
Vietnam, looked at these landscapes and just fell in love.”

“The look of Vietnam is gorgeous and
otherworldly at the same time,” he said. “There’s such a raw, powerful and
unspoiled beauty that general audiences hadn't experienced on screen before.
There’s a ruggedness and a beauty to a place like Vietnam.”

Even though it has been chosen as a Hollywood film location before, this was
the first time Vietnam has hosted a film production of this size, scale and
magnitude. The entire cast and 120 crew members of “Kong: Skull Island” was all
on site in February last year, shooting in Quang Binh's colossal caves and the
tranquil town of Phong Nha, as well as the world-renowned Ha Long Bay and the
northern province of Ninh Binh.

Known for their untouched spectacular scenery and wondrous natural
structures, these are some of the most remote and beautiful parts of Vietnam
that have not been seen much in a Hollywood film.

“That’s the reason why we shot there, because you’re trying to find
something that is completely untouched and looks unlike anything you’ve seen
before. And Vietnam is the answer to that,” said actress Brie Larson.

“You can see it in the film. People will have to go visit it. I cannot say
enough nice things about Vietnam. It was my first trip there and it will
certainly not be my last. Hanoi was absolutely incredible … and Ninh Binh was
also beautiful. I tell everyone who wants to go there that (Hanoi) is such a
great place to start because there’s so much to do and so much to see.”

Larson, who had to fly directly from Vietnam to the Academy Awards to
receive her Best Actress Oscar and then back to resume filming of Kong the
morning after, told Channel NewsAsia that the experience was all about “the
little things”.

“They built our trailers from the ground up! They took what I think were old
school buses, gutted them completely and put in plumbing and couches. It was
amazing!” she recalled. “The craftsmanship on those things was amazing. It was
just little things. I think they even built roads for our trucks to get to
these locations because we were so remote.”

A scene of the film "Kong: Skull Island" (Photo: Warner Bros)

Veteran actor John Goodman told Channel NewsAsia that it was a “pleasure” to
run around the streets of Hanoi trying to get lost and finding his way back.

“They said we were the first western film to film there, and they were very
accommodating to us,” he said. “And they wanted us to feel welcomed and they
most certainly did that.”

“In and out of the countryside, you see some rice farmers, some buffalos,
things that I never thought I’d see. Water, caves, it was just beautiful.”

All that said, filming in Vietnam was not without its own challenges.

Because of its remoteness, actor Samuel L Jackson shared that travelling
from where they were living to the actual location took up to two hours on some
days.

“Some days, we had to get in canoes with little ladies who rode us through
the mountains and caves,” he said with a smile. “But that was kind of fun!”

For Tom Hiddleston, it was filming one particularly tough swamp sequence.

“There’s a swamp that we ran through every day for 10 days which was
incredibly cold! And for continuity, we had to get the same amount of 'wet' for
every one of the 10 days,” he recalled.

But overall, the Brit actor found working in Vietnam nothing short of
“amazing” and a “privilege”. And that is because the people were so welcoming
and warm, he said.

“The topography of where we were … I’ve never seen landscapes like that
before,” he continued. “It’s our job as actors to imagine we’re living in this
desert island and undiscovered wilderness untouched by man. And the fact that
we’re in these swamps, out of which arises these towers of rock, makes at least
that part of the imagination easier.

Vogt-Roberts is hopeful that the film will encourage more people to visit
Vietnam, although he said he is mindful of both the advantages and pitfalls.

“But it’s such a beautiful part of
the world. I find that people on that side of the world have that general
graciousness that we lack here (in the US). And so I sincerely believe that our
film will have a positive impact on tourism, filming, and a general
understanding of how stunning and beautiful the country is.”

Which is why, for all the challenges that filming in Vietnam presented,
Vogt-Roberts wanted both his actors and the audience to “feel the tactile
nature of the environment”.

He hopes that people will walk out of Kong: Skull Island wanting to discover
Vietnam for themselves. “I hope that people will look at this movie the same
way they looked at Lord Of The Rings, Middle Earth and New Zealand and ask
‘Where did they shoot that?’” he said.

“I hope they go and explore Vietnam, fall in love with the landscapes, the
people, the culture and the food. I hope they explore the rest of Asia as well,
because I don’t think a lot of people think to go to these places as much. I
want them to fall in love the way that I did.”-VNA